It is known that the power consumed by driving a conveyor belt changes influenced by the type of conveyor belt or peripheral equipment such as driving rollers as well as changes in the weight of transportation articles placed on the conveyor belt, or the like. Since the number of support rollers which support the conveyor belt increases when the belt conveyor has a long length, motive power loss caused by contact between the conveyor belt and the support rollers is predominant in terms of the power consumption. Therefore, reducing the motive power loss which occurs when the conveyor belt rides over the support rollers, that is, reducing the resistance force for riding over the support rollers, is an important issue.
As a part of detecting the resistance force for riding over support rollers, a device has been proposed which measures strain generated in the surfaces of the support rollers during the traveling of the conveyor belt (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-292736A). In the measuring device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-292736A, the strain generated in the surfaces of the support rollers is measured by employing a conveyor belt cut to a predetermined length. Specifically, cantilevered beam-shaped notches are provided in the rotating surfaces of the support rollers and strain gauges are installed in the notches. Then, by setting the cut conveyor belt to a state of being fixed at a predetermined position, the support rollers are made to roll by moving the support rollers in the belt longitudinal direction while in contact with the lower surface of the conveyor belt. In this configuration, the detection data from the strain gauges is input to a measuring instrument through cords.
By analyzing the detection data from the strain gauges, it is possible to detect the contact state between the support rollers and the conveyor belt. However, with this measuring device, it is difficult to acquire data under conditions identical to the conditions under which the conveyor belt is used in practice. Therefore, there is a disadvantage in terms of precisely detecting the contact state between the support rollers and the conveyor belt that conforms to actual use. In addition, since the device has a structure in which the detection data from the strain gauge is input to the measuring instrument through cords, when trying to carry out measurement by setting the measurement device on the conveyor belt mounted on the actual device, there is a problem in that it is not possible to perform the measurement due to the cords extending from the strain gauges getting in the way.